


Spanner in the Works

by panther



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, F/M, Infidelity, M/M, Post-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-13
Updated: 2012-05-13
Packaged: 2017-11-05 07:48:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/404032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panther/pseuds/panther
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Astoria has dragged Draco to Australia for a different sort of holiday. With Australia's wizarding population being so spread out, the Malfoys find themselves in a Muggle bar, owned by one Harry Potter. Stunned, Draco decides he wants to know more, thinking he is the first to stumble across the other man since he left Ginny Weasley the night before their wedding.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spanner in the Works

**Author's Note:**

> With thanks to Mer for doing the beta work. The Prompt was:Mere days before his wedding to Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter leaves the wizarding world and no one knows why or where he went. Years later Draco stumbles upon one Harry Potter, who is nothing like the one he remembers. And this Harry is intriguing and irresistible. I tried to stay as close to this as possible.

Draco bumps into him on a holiday that he has been dragged on by Astoria and has so far hated every minute of. Australia is too hot and too humid and too loud and too _muggle_ in the area Astoria has brought them to. From the moment that they arrive Draco is complaining and trying to persuade his wife to go home. Harry Potter had not crossed his mind in years, not since the papers had finally stopped writing about how he had disappeared the night before he was meant to marry Ginny Weasley and the scandal had erupted over the wizarding world. Everyone had been talking about it. There had been no word and no trace of him. At least, not until now. 

Melbourne, Australia, is not the place Draco expected to find Harry Potter living but he will eat his own wand if that is not Saint Potter laughing behind the counter of the bar his wife has dragged him to. He looks older, which of course he is, and his once pale and at times unhealthy looking skin is a golden brown, making his dark green eyes stand out when he glances around the room. As he looks their way, Draco looks down and is relieved that Potter left before he had married Astoria, and so won’t recognise her. 

It feels strange, to be the one to have found him after all this time and he hadn’t even been looking. Potter working in a bar didn’t make sense though. The man was rich, everyone knew that, and Draco doubted even Potter was stupid enough to blow all that money in only a few short years. 

“Draco, are you alright?” Astoria asks quietly, still reading the wine menu, as Draco frowns and turns things over in his mind. 

“Fine. Look, over your shoulder at the bar. Tell me if you recognise anyone,” Draco says to her quietly over the table, shifting uncomfortably in their booth. 

Astoria looks at him curiously and frowns but doesn’t question his demand and turns to peer over her left shoulder. When she gasps, Draco groans, because he didn’t want to be right, “But Draco, it can’t be, it just _can’t_ be.”

“It is. Harry Potter is working in a Melbourne bar. A _muggle_ one at that. I can’t believe you’ve managed to drag me out to here,” Draco hisses, folding his arms and taking off his sunglasses to thrown them down onto the table which earns him a warning glare from his wife. 

“Draco, there is only one wizarding bar in the area and you don’t like it and I got food poisoning so stop complaining and _no_ we’re not going home. I have always wanted to see Australia, and so what if Potter is here? He hasn’t come near a wizard in years and I doubt he is going to start now just to ruin your holiday,” Astoria rants.  
“I don’t like it,” Draco murmurs, “ It just feels...weird, that we would be the ones to find him.”

“Maybe we’re not,” Astoria huffs, “Maybe someone else has seen him and just didn’t say. Who _cares_ , Draco. Just go and get us a bottle of wine.”

“I don’t understand their money,” Draco almost whines, and Astoria merely glares, until he gets up and moves towards the bar. Potter, he is happy to note, has disappeared into the back and it is a young Australian girl with a big fake smile that serves him and sends him on his way. He manages it without attracting any attention to himself.

Draco sits himself down and pours both himself and Astoria a glass of wine before settling down to process his thoughts. Finding Potter was a curveball but it was also an opportunity. The man was different in every way. He carried himself with a confidence he had never had before no matter how much Draco had accused him of it in their teenage years. His hair was longer, curling around his face, and his cheekbones stand out against his face. Potter had never been a stunner before but he sure looks good to Draco now. He interacts with people with ease, and doesn’t look on edge like he was expecting them to turn on him at any moment. It seems that he trusts them and that wasn’t a look Draco really recognised on Potter. It was strange and fascinating and the blond wants to know more. 

Potter catches Draco’s eye and the smile flickers for a split second before he’s back to his usual self and going about his business. For the rest of the night he acts as if Draco isn’t even there. 

*

“Astoria, you go back to the hotel. I want to try and get a word with Potter,” Draco states loudly over the terrible music around half past twelve, rising unsteadily to his feet as he does so.

Astoria doesn’t answer immediately but an angry red blush fills her cheeks as she gets to her feet, “We’re meant to be on holiday!”

“We are on holiday,” Draco states, but she can’t hear him and doesn’t need to. She knows exactly what Draco’s plan is because she’s been humiliated and sent away like this before, all over England and all over the world. She will wake up alone in the morning if Draco gets his way. Biting her tongue, she grabs her bag, finishes her glass of wine and quietly slips from the booth and leaves the bar. When Draco looks up, Harry Potter is staring right back at him and smirking. 

*  
Last orders come, and Draco doesn’t understand it at first because he doesn’t usually spend time in establishments that have such things. Usually, the time of closing is known and the company he keeps respects that and makes sure they are finished or, if they have the social standing Draco’s family had as he was growing up then, the owner just waited. People start to filter out and Draco makes sure to keep a little of his wine in his glass while the staff go about their business until one notices he is still there, 

“Only one to go, Boss. I will go shift him,” a brunette states to Harry, who laughs and shakes his head. 

“Leave it Kim, I know him. You just head off. I have the rest. The rest of you too, beat it!” Harry declares and if Draco is surprised to realise that Harry apparently owns the place then he doesn’t show it. 

One by one, the staff filter out of the bar until only Potter is left and Draco relaxes at that. His wand is tucked away in the inside of the muggle jacket Astoria had provided him and, seeing how painfully muggle a life Potter seemed to be living, the blond is confident that the other man isn’t armed. Potter doesn’t look his way as he walks past to pull the outdoor tables back inside and then bring the shutters down. In fact, he doesn’t say a word until he is done with his business and then he just slips confidently into the booth opposite Draco with a drink and a smile on his face, 

“Malfoy, can’t say I expected to see you here.”

“Likewise,” Draco replies, feeling like his tongue is sticking to the roof of his mouth. Having Potter so close is strange. He looks the same but different and Draco finds it intimidating that he is so confident, and almost looks _happy_ to see him, “You own this establishment?”

“Yeah,” Potter laughs, “Yeah, this is my place. All nice and muggle and out the way of the magical community. Hence why I didn’t expect you to walk in with who I assume, is the Mrs.”

“It wasn’t of choice,” Draco drawls, “I can assure you of that. Astoria, however, wanted to see Australia and the wizarding community is...”

“Spread out and hard to find?” Potter supplies with a grin, “Just how I like it.”

“Why are you here, Potter?” Draco queries, “Why would you leave magic? I just don’t understand. Then again, I don’t understand why you’re even talking to me.”

Potter shrugs, sips his drink, and stares at the blond for a moment. It makes Draco feel almost nervous, because this Harry Potter is so different from the man he remembers and Draco doesn’t like exposing himself to threats he doesn’t understand. 

“I never asked to be famous, and I didn’t like it,” he eventually responds bluntly, “I can do things without magic. Sure, I miss flying but the rest? There are other ways to do things. I spent far too much time in the hospital wing and being torn apart by the press. As for talking to you, well I haven’t seen anyone in years so why not? Besides, you’re in my bar, so it is polite if nothing else.”

“I still don’t get it,” Draco mutters, “Why would anyone leave _magic_?”

“Of course you don’t get it,” Harry sighs, rolling his eyes, “ You’re a pureblood who has never lived in the muggle world. I’ve been here longer than I was ever in the magical world.”

“You just disappeared,” Draco accuses, “I’m not a nice person, Potter, but even I wouldn’t leave the night before my wedding.”

Harry’s eyes darken at the memory and the easy going smile drops from his lips, “You don’t know anything about that and neither does anyone else.”

Draco takes the hint. Potter doesn’t want to talk about it but then Draco doesn’t really care. He cares about the tanned skin and the strong muscles he can see straining against the thin material of Potter’s t-shirt. He cares about how much Potter has _changed_ and how there is no tension coming off him like before but just confidence. Draco was in his arena and Potter had all the control and Merlin, Draco loved it. 

“So, why _did_ you want to talk to me, Malfoy?”

“You were here,” Draco states, very matter of fact, “I couldn’t believe it at first. I got curious. Then it seemed you were....different. I got interested. You always did have a way of reeling me in even when I didn’t want to give a shit.”

“Polite as ever I see,” Harry replies, the grin back in place, “You sent your little wife away awfully early and spent the rest of the night watching me. I noticed that, by the way. See something interesting?”

“I might have done,” Draco states boldly, “Might need another drink to steady the mind and be sure though.”

“I’m not sure it works that way,” Harry chuckles, “But if you insist. I shall get you a glass of the finest house wine which, admittedly will probably still not meet your standards but hey, I’m not a Hilton Hotel.”

“A what?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Harry mutters, already slipping from the booth and making his way back to the dimly lit bar. He returns a moment later with a bottle of wine and pours Draco a glass, not bothering for himself, “I don’t want you to tell anyone that you saw me. I’m happy here and I don’t want that fucked up.”

There is a harder edge to Potter’s tone and Draco picks up on that. This man was different and his life _was_ so different here. Draco didn’t need to see more than he already had in order to realise that. He wouldn’t put it past the ex-Gryffindor to use the many things he had in his back pocket against Draco following the trials against him to secure his silence. He was different, older, and had managed to evade everyone that he left behind for years now. Draco thinks of Astoria, probably twisting and turning in their hotel room, and imagines Potter sneaking in during the night to erase her memory as she lies defenceless in their bed. Potter’s eyes are sharp and his face set and Draco is convinced that he is closer to the mark than he wants to be.

“You really don’t want to be found, do you?” Draco drawls, before sipping at his wine.

“No, no I don’t. I won’t be. Either you help me or....”

“Are you threatening me, Potter? Seems moving here has led to you growing some balls,” Draco murmurs teasingly, “Now that _is_ interesting.”

“I left for a reason,” Harry states harshly, “And that reason hasn’t changed. Now, I saw how you were looking at me, so we both know why you’re here. Are you going to do anything about it?”

Draco raises en eyebrow and pushes his glass of wine away from him into the centre of the table, “You really have changed. Yes, I saw something I liked. Yes, I might do something about it but if your memory serves you at all, you were the Gryffindor and not me.”

“Houses don’t mean anything here. Not anymore,” Harry mutters gruffly and Draco thinks it might mean something more that he doesn’t care to think about. 

“Your place?”

“Upstairs,” Harry states, rising from his seat, and picking up the glasses and bottle before returning them to the bar. 

“You live above your establishment?” Draco sneers, “And here was me thinking you had some sort of life out here.”

“I do,” Harry laughs, “I have friends and a business and a life I make the rules for. Now are you coming or not? It is hardly a ramshackle apartment that I am living in.”

Intrigued, Draco doesn’t pause before following Harry into the back and through a kitchen area that backs out into a car park. Right next to the exit is Harry’s front door that he unlocks, leading up a set of stairs and into his apartment. Draco takes in everything he can in the dark while Harry leads him in and tries to suppress his shock at the lovely spacious living area he finds himself in. Potter’s laugh tells him that he has failed though. 

“See? I told you.”

“Potter, this place is bigger than it should be. You’ve used magic,” Draco accuses, as if feeling he has been personally duped. 

“Never said I had stopped altogether,” Harry laughs, suddenly reappearing at Draco’s side from disposing of his keys and other things he had brought up from the bar. 

Draco doesn’t respond, both well aware of why he is there, merely grabbing Harry by the back of his neck and pulling him close, kissing him harshly, all demanding and domineering. Harry’s hands automatically go to Draco’s hips, fingers pushing in at the soft skin of his waist, as he guides them both towards his bedroom. Other than it being bigger than expected and having light walls, Draco hadn’t taken anything else in and so has to trust that Harry won’t walk him into anything. It feels strange to trust him. Finding himself shoved roughly against a wall, Draco moans and pulls away, kissing at Harry’s jaw line as the younger man pulls his shirt free from his trousers. Pushing back, Draco hopes for another wall and finds it with a solid thud and a hiss from Harry as the blond pulls at dark hair and lets his fingers roam up Harry’s back. 

“Bedroom?” Draco breathes, letting his fingers drop from Harry’s hair as he works on the buttons of his jeans and slips his hand down into his boxers, cupping his half-hard erection.

“D-down there,” Harry gasps, allowing himself to be pulled into the room and thrown down onto his own bed. Draco hovers above him, removing his wand from where he had stashed it in his pocket after discarding his jacket on arrival, and Harry takes the chance to take off his glasses and then his t-shirt. 

“Always thought you’d be the sort of be gagging for it, Potter,” Draco sneers, unbuttoning his shirt and letting it flutter to the ground. For a moment, Harry glances at the tattoo still standing out from his pale skin before Draco scowls and straddles him roughly on the bed, “You know who I am. It is you that has changed.”

“More than you know,” Harry rasps, bucking his hips, and reaching for Draco’s trousers and trying to get the zip down with no success. 

“Always did need someone to help you,” Draco taunts, undoing his own trousers and stripping himself completely naked before pulling at Harry’s jeans too and easing them down toned legs with his boxers, “You have something? Good.” Draco mutters, when Harry points at the bedside table. 

Reaching in, Draco pulls out the lubricant and coats his fingers before kissing Harry harshly and then pressing one slick finger into his hole. Harry presses down on the pressure, moaning softly, as Draco adds a second finger and scissors them slowly. Biting his lower lip, Harry gazes up at Draco and takes in his flushed cheeks and straining erection before chuckling to himself, satisfied. 

“Hurry up,” he demands, bucking his hips against Draco’s touch and making him scowl. 

“I am trying not to hurt you, Potter,” Draco states exasperatedly, before adding another finger and stretching Harry out, “I don’t need you crying halfway through. You don’t have anything do you? Haven’t caught anything from these muggles?”

“As if, Malfoy. I’m not stupid.”

“Could have fooled me,” Draco scowls at him but pulls his fingers free all the same and rubs lubricant on his cock before pressing the head of his cock to Harry’s entrance.

Harry groans as Draco pushes in, holds Draco’s pale hips strong enough to leave angry red marks when he moves his fingers, and bites his lower lip until it flushes red. Draco grunts when he is fully inside the other man, taking his time before easing out and then pushing back in again. He sets his own pace and irritates Harry by not going faster when the other man wants him to. Harry clenches around him and groans, trying to entice a reaction but only getting a wicked smile in response. 

“ _Harder_ , for fuck’s sake, Malfoy. Is that all you’ve got?”

“Still a demanding shite I see,” Draco remarks calmly, altering his angle slightly and quickening his pace a little all the time, “You should see yourself, Potter. Imagine if the world could see you now, legs spread out wide for Draco Malfoy.”

Harry doesn’t respond, his eyes giving nothing away, and it pushes Draco on. He fucks him hard and fast, and looks for some sort of reaction, but Harry only moans and demands more, and hooks his legs around Draco to force him deeper. It drives the blond wild.

Draco’s orgasm builds slowly until he’s losing his rhythm and gasping for breathes he can’t quite catch before everything tenses and he’s collapsing on Harry with a satisfied groan. After a moment, he thinks of Harry and is almost instantly aware of the hot sticky mess on his abdomen. He chuckles, pulling out slowly, and taking in the panting Harry beside him. He would never have expected the other man to be like that. 

“Where are you staying?”Harry murmurs without looking over. 

“The five star hotel three blocks from here,” Draco responds.

“Nice place,” Harry mutters tiredly, “I sure didn’t expect to see you tonight.”

“You’ve mentioned that.”

“Well it is true,” Harry states, “Threw a spanner in my works.”

“What does that mean?” Draco demands puzzled, but Harry only turns onto his side, mumbles that it doesn’t matter and tells Draco to go to sleep.

Even then, Draco didn’t realise how much the other man had changed.

*

“Where were you last night?” Astoria demands, the minute Draco is inside the door of their hotel room. Her eyes are bloodshot and she looks almost frantic, “I can’t remember anything about last night and then I wake up and you’re not here! I was thinking all sorts!”

“I don’t know,” Draco replies hoarsely, realising that he _really_ doesn’t while racking his brains for any sort of reminder, “I...the first thing I remember is walking down the road towards the hotel. I just...I don’t remember anything.”  
“Oh, Draco, let’s go home!” Astoria wails, “Maybe you were right. We should have got as close to these muggles. I heard they have strange drugs that make you forget things. We should get checked and just...just get home. We’re not coming back.”

“Best thing you’ve said in weeks,” Draco mumbles gruffly. 

*

They don’t realise they are being watched from a cafe across the street as they check out from the hotel and disappear down into a side alley with their bags. They don’t realise they haven’t been the first and won’t be the last either. Harry Potter wasn’t the same anymore, but he didn’t plan on anyone ever finding that out.


End file.
